Seeking Repair with Indigenous Communities

As an outgrowth of our commitments to welcome all, follow Jesus, and foster wholeness, a priority of the outreach commission of Willow Avenue Mennonite Church is seeking repair with indigenous communities. See below for more information about upcoming and prior work in this area.

 Sugarcane Documentary Screening

Join us for a free screening of Sugarcane on Sept 19th, 2026 at 1pm. This documentary offers a groundbreaking investigation that exposes a shocking cover-up of cultural genocide perpetrated by the church and government, and illuminates the enduring love, beauty and courage of an Indigenous community. After the documentary, a panel of local experts will discuss the reverberations of this film among local indigenous people. Invite your friends by tagging them or sharing the post. Free elementary aged childcare available. Please sign up for free eventbrite tickets here. A preview of the documentary is available below as is a shareable flyer.

Local INDIGENOUS History and Realities

As an outgrowth of congregational conversation about land acknowledgements, Willow Avenue Mennonite Church hosted a series about local indigenous history and realities. See below for more information about that series, including video recordings of the presentations.

A Critical Introduction to Land Acknowledgments by Dr. Sydney Beckmann

Pre-Contact Culture and History by Dr. Ron Goode

The video feed starts about 3 minutes in. Dr. Goode’s presentation begins at the 2:28 mark in the video below.

Negotiating Colonization

In this presentation, Cristina Gonzalez discusses how local indigenous people negotiated the realities of colonization.

Contemporary Realities

In this final presentation for the series, Audrey Osborne, a Choinumni Tribal Historian, and Kenny Barrios, a cultural liaison with the Santa Rosa Rancheria, discuss the contemporary realities of local indigenous people.